Embarrassment (shame)

Embarrassment is a painful but important emotional state. Most researchers believe that the purpose of embarrassment is to make people feel badly about their social or personal mistakes as a form of internal (or societal) feedback, so that they learn not to repeat the error. The accompanying physiological changes, including blushing, sweating, or stammering, may signal to others that a person recognizes their own error, and so is not cold-hearted or oblivious. Go to the source to find the Psychology Today ‘shame’ archives: Embarrassment